Artic explorer: learning to drive a lorry

Air pressure controls not only the brakes, as you’d expect, but also adjustment of the seats and steering column, so when you’re on the move, you gently bounce in frequency with the air-mounted cab. Mercedes now equips the Actros (a generic name covering all of its heavy on-road trucks from 18 to 44 tonnes) with MirrorCams, which replace the traditional door mirror with a high-mounted camera on either side of the cab, its information displayed through two tablet-style screens on the inside of the A-pillars.

Fuel consumption is reduced by 1.5-3%, thanks to improved aero, but a vastly better perspective for the driver than with a physical mirror (our demo truck has both for comparison) reduces blindspot terrors while also remaining dirt- and rain-free at all times. We’re hauling a measly five-tonne dummy weight today, but thanks to what Mercedes calls Predicted Powertrain Control, Colquhoun can preset various ‘rules’ in the truck’s systems, such as upper-speed tolerance, cornering momentum and even how soon the truck backs off power as it approaches a junction. I say ‘the truck’, because all of this is linked to highly sophisticated cruise control tech that uses a camera with a twomile range to see prevailing road topography and react accordingly, improving safety but also optimising economy, engine life and therefore up-time while it’s on a fleet.

I’m slightly worried to see Colquhoun taking his hands off the wheel – just by a few inches – as we slow towards a roundabout but, he tells me, the tech includes level-two autonomous driving capability, too. It’s no mere gimmick, either: the benefits are very real in terms of driving consistency, and therefore safety and running costs.

Now it’s my turn. Without a licence, I’m restricted to driving in the ominously named ‘Zone 13’ on Mercedes Trucks’ site. I stay in the 18-tonner to begin with, to get a feel for the largely generic controls. Press a button to start the engine, rotate the small switch at the end of a column stalk to ‘D’ (which disengages the air parking brake), touch the accelerator and you’re away. There are nine gears, all automatically selected (although you can override them through a second column shift), and each one engages after a short pause.

Steering feel through the large-ish wheel is surprisingly communicative, and not nearly as low geared as I’d expected and – get this – as you slow down, the engine’s revs automatically match the downshifts, just like in the best exotica. But this was a mere taster for the real deal, which now awaits me: the Actros 2545 articulated truck, complete with full-sized trailer. That means 15m of total length, 2.5m of width, and all powered by a 12.8-litre six delivering (gulp) 450 horsepower through its 12-speed transmission. It has the same basic controls as before, but when I turn, the sight of that mighty trailer snaking behind me is unnerving. I’ve driven all sorts of stuff over the past 40 years, but nothing prepares you for this.

With my spatial radar turned to 11, we proceed to an area coned out for the dreaded reverse manoeuvre. In future, responsibility for it and the pre-driving checks, which were previously part of the HGV 1 exam, will be carried out by your instructor, once again reducing test times, to get through more candidates in any given day. Anyway, it’s bloody fiendish, let me tell you now. The aim is to first reverse from one narrow lane to an adjacent one, each one marked out by cones. You have to do this without hitting a blocking cone, which forces you to perform this part of the manoeuvre in a defined distance, and then complete the task by backing into a cone-drawn ‘loading bay’, stopping within 75cm of its rear extremities.

Having towed before, I understand the principles of kinking the cab the opposite way to its trailer in order to ‘push’ it in the right direction, but the sheer length of the trailer, allied to the confined space in which the cab has to rotate, is a challenge, even with Colquhoun’s guidance. By fluke, I crack it first time, but I over-think it second time around, leaving my trailer across three imaginary lanes. If this had been a real exam, while I’d be permitted one corrective shunt forward, I’d have had only one attempt to get it right, so practice would definitely need to make perfect.

And to do this in the heat of a busy distribution centre? Truckers, I take my hat off to you.

Home is where the truck is